‘A veiled prophet speaks, seized by the power of a god.’

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

This is the Sabian Symbol for the degree of the Capricorn full Moon. Who is the ‘veiled prophet,’ and which god is speaking? Perhaps the god is Saturn, one degree away from the Moon. Saturn’s degree image: ‘ten logs lie under an archway leading to darker woods.’

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

He invites us into the darkness of the woods at midnight when the Moon will be exactly full (Wednesday in the Eastern zone of the United States). We need that darkness in order to fully experience the light of the Moon!

photo: Virginia McEachern

Saturn is very comfortable in Capricorn. The Moon in Capricorn does not feel at home, because the sign, which she rules is Cancer, on the opposite side of the chart. She is out of her ‘element, ‘ alone with Saturn, and to further the discomfort, she is partially eclipsed. The chart has many dramatic possibilities.

The degree of the Sun has this beautiful image: ‘Two nature spirits dancing under the moonlight’! And Saturn’s degree: ‘Ten logs lie under an archway leading to dark woods,’says we must go deeper to find the magical circle where the spirit dance takes place.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Capricorn, where the Moon is in her full form this month is an Earth sign. The Earth element is about manifestation, what we experience with the five senses. The symbol for the Earth element is a pentacle, held in the star at the heart of an apple, the pattern of the cycle of Venus. The pentacle is also a reminder that that there are four elements and spirit. And the pentacle is a reminder of our human form. We are made of the five elements and five senses.

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Most occult traditions insist on our participation in the earth dance. To be a magician is to be involved in the everyday work of this planet. Before we can step deeper into the forest under the full Moon at midnight, we must attend to the Capricorn business of earning a living in some form. We have to wash the dishes, and live with our family and community in a responsible way. We are under the rules of Saturn on this planet, but he keeps his promise: Manifestation of your desire awaits the completion of the task you have undertaken.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Chiron is also in the mix of this chart. He will heal our wounds, if we accept our contradictions. We are strong and vulnerable, angry and loving, responsible and ready to run from what we know is required of us. Chiron in Aries is the wounded warrior. He might be our impulse to seek excitement rather than the focused attention on our task we have pledged through Saturn.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

And I cannot ignore the role of Uranus, the revolutionary, the unexpected, the disrupter and transformer. He is at a degree in Taurus, which connects him to the Moon and Saturn. They are all in earth signs, but he is the god who strikes from the sky. His Sabian Symbol is ‘an electrical storm.’

photo: Robert Fuhro

A full Moon with everything…a message from a god through a veiled prophet, nature spirits to be found if we go deeper into the dark woods and just as we are ready to grasp this promise of manifestation, an electrical storm!

This full Moon and this astrology chart belong to the whole world. The pain inflicted on refugees fleeing terror only to have their children snatched away and lost, is not an isolated event. Each of us has a veiled prophet within who speaks truth to us, so that we can go deeper into darkness and find the route to actions, which will manifest in justice and kindness.

photo: Robert Fuhro

Wednesday we enter the Celtic Lunar month of Duir, the Oak! Duir means ‘door,’ the entry into another season when the Sun stands still, and turns South at the Summer Solstice. In the Druid ceremony at the Solstice, the Holly King triumphs over the Oak King, until the winter Solstice, when Holly is wounded by Oak, and the light of the Sun returns to the North. And so here we stand at the Door of Oak, ready for new beginning as at each new Moon, but also a turn from the expansion of light to the expansion of darkness.

photo: Sarah Fuhro

The Oak is the king of the forest, and is sacred in many traditions because he draws lightning, the attention of the sky gods. Even when struck by lightning, the Oak endures, marked by fire but still vital. He is tall and solid; his branches provide protection from Sun and rain. Oak is sacred to Druids who call themselves ‘piglets.’ Like piglets, who eat acorns from the Oak, Druids gather wisdom from this mighty tree.

pottery: Sarah Fuhro

There’s an eclipse of the Sun at this new Moon, and if feels as if this is a reflection of the Solstice, when the Sun stops for a moment and then turns Southward. Immediately after the perfect moment of newness, the Moon becomes ‘void of course,’ that is, has no further connection to other planets until early Thursday morning. As I write this, the Moon is in her dark phase. Invisible in the sky, we can only intuit her meeting with the eclipsed Sun, which takes place Wednesday at 3:43 pm EDT.

The Moon seems to be in some danger from all of this. Moon is our emotional body. She is our sense of security, our mother, our home, the sea from where we emerged. How does all of this ‘feel’ when she disappears into the Sun’s embrace? While all of the cosmos is in constant flux, it is the Moon, deeply embedded in our hearts and psyches who communicates, with out words, the truth of change, the necessity to embrace transformation.

sculpture: Joseph Wheelwright

The new Moon takes place with the Sun at 22° of Gemini. Gemini is a chatty, airy, flexible sign for the Moon. But because of other tensions in the chart, this new Moon seems more subdued, or withdrawn. However we grew up, we had to gauge our mother’s moods and intentions. Like the Moon, she was not always focused on us. She had her own internal and external life, and we had to share her attention. There is a direct but uncomfortable relationship between the Moon in Gemini and Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld. Death, as an emotional truth may make his way into our consciousness. The old truth: ‘the end must come before the beginning is felt here.’ Death as a constant even in the green world of Summer leers at us.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Ah, but change from this place of dark eclipse happens quickly! It all depends upon how you look at things! The Sun comes out of his shadow. The joyful green world of June and Gemini is apparent everywhere. Gemini who loves to see things, now this way and now that way, is the perfect balance to eclipse and Pluto energy.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

The Moon moves into the sign of Cancer on Thursday at 3:20 am. Here she is once more the all-embracing Mother! The same day marks the entrance of Venus into Leo, where she celebrates love and beauty with Solar abandon!

photo: Sarah Fuhro

The Sabian Symbol for this moment of new Moon is one of potential for new life and growth: ‘Three fledglings in a nest high in a tree’ This is the triangle of manifestation, the trine in astrology. This is new Moon is about the process of ‘creative integration.’ The three elements of Visionary, Designer and Craftsman work in harmony to build an eternal chapel in the Three of Pentacles Tarot card.